


Who (or What) We Could Have Been.

by theatergirl06



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, F/M, M/M, Roleswap
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-16 19:53:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29830053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theatergirl06/pseuds/theatergirl06
Summary: In another world, the universe feared the power of the Fire Nation, and those who fought for them became the villains.In this one, the world is crumbling under the weight of the Water Tribes. In its darkest moment, a boy appears. He is young and inexperienced. But he represents hope, something the world hasn't seen in a long time.Aang has a perilous journey ahead of him, and he will need his friends every step of the way. But as the war rages on, the lines of good and evil begin to blur, and the whole world begins to wonder who the enemies really are.
Relationships: Aang & Azula & Zuko & Toph, Aang & Azula (Avatar), Aang & Toph Beifong, Aang & Zuko (Avatar), Azula & Suki (Avatar), Azula & Toph Beifong, Azula & Yue (Avatar), But I don't want to give those away just yet:), Katara & Mai & Ty Lee (Avatar), Katara & Sokka (Avatar), Romantic Relationships - Relationship, Toph Beifong & Zuko
Comments: 12
Kudos: 15





	1. The Boy in the Mountain.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! This is my very first time writing ATLA fanfiction, so I'm really excited. I'm VERY new at this, so I really apologize if anyone is super out of character!  
> My take on the Water Tribes Start the War AU. The Avatar Cycle is still the same (water, earth, fire, air), and Aang is found by Azula and Zuko.   
>  Enjoy:)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This first chapter was hard! I have all the character dynamics in my head, but first I have to set everything up AAH!
> 
> A few things:  
> This first chapter has been split into two parts because it was getting too long.  
> A larger space between paragraphs indicates a change in perspective, *** indicates a change in setting.

Azula concentrated as hard as she possibly could. She felt the energy flowing through the air around her, rushing through her body like a torrent of pure heat. She felt it building up behind her fingertips as she took her stance, each limb perfectly aligned, not a finger or toe out of place. She pointed her right hand at the sky. Blue flames shot out of her fingers, a stark contrast against the pale sky and the dark storm clouds in the distance. 

Without missing a beat, she swung her right arm back, using her momentum to turn ever so slightly on her heels before shooting another burst of fire, this time out of her left hand. She allowed herself to fall forward, using her left hand to push herself off the ground again, spinning her body around as she shot more bursts of flames, trying her best not to lose any momentum. With one last push, she launched herself up onto her feet, and with a deep breath, turned both of her hands to the sky. Twin arcs of blue fire appeared, looping and intertwining with one another until they became one. A perfect finish.

Instinctively, Azula turned to her left, where a Firebending Master would have normally stood to give her criticism, ways to improve, or, if she had done particularly well, perhaps even praise. But of course, there was no one there. There had been hardly any Firebenders on Ember Island for nearly a century. The last she had heard of were her own father and uncle, and both of them were gone.

Sighing, she allowed herself a quick break, dropping down onto the sand and staring up at the sky. She normally wouldn’t tolerate this sort of laziness from herself, but today felt...odd. Like the very nature of the planet was unbalanced, or as though a great change was coming. The electricity in the air was far more present than usual. As a firebending prodigy, Azula could sense that better than anyone else.

She longed to progress to the next level. For as long as she could remember, she’d watched her father, the strongest firebender in generations, bend lightning. It was the pinnacle of firebending skill, and since the day Azula had learned that she possessed a gift unseen in over a century, she had aimed to reach that mark. On a stormy day such as this, it would be even easier to just try it.

But she wasn’t ready. She knew it. Skilled as she was, she was still not fully trained. She hadn’t had a trainer in three years. Through hard work, she had managed to make her fire blue, a feat no one in living memory had achieved as far as she knew. Sure, she was proud of herself for that, but she felt the need to keep moving forward, pushing herself to the next level. It was only at the urging of her father that she did not. Even in his letters, she still valued his advice more than that of anyone else, and he had made her promise not to try lightning without a trainer. One mistake, and she could kill herself or someone else. She could even cause enormous damage to the entire village.

Still, despite her logic, on which she could always rely, she still had moments of yearning. What she wouldn’t give to be able to do  _ something  _ more, anything to win this war. 

She hated the war more than anything else in the world. How could she not hate it when it was destroying her people? She’d seen the numbers, and firebenders in the world were becoming increasingly rare. An entire art was being destroyed, and only so that the Water Tribes could take over everything, just like they’d been trying to do for a hundred years. They attacked when you least expected it, took you captive, slaughtered your family, and made you a prisoner. She’d lived in fear of them since she was a child. Now, at fourteen, after the war had taken so many of her people, after her village had been raided, her mother injured for life, and her father forced to leave to fight, all she wanted to do was defeat them. She couldn’t take this anymore. The  _ world _ couldn’t take this anymore.

Sighing, she pulled herself to her feet. Her five minutes were up. She’d taught herself long ago not to think too much. If she dwelled on the war, all it ever did was make her more angry and more 

exhausted. If she focused on her bending, the emotions would reside on their own. Her bending became much easier when they did.

Azula shot another spurt of fire into the sky.

Just on the other side of a rocky outcropping, her brother Zuko was mirroring her motions. Although neither could see the other, they had been repeating the same forms since they were small. But Zuko had never picked them up as easily as his younger sister, much to his chagrin. It wasn’t that he didn’t understand what “prodigy” meant, of  _ course _ he did. It was just that it was simply  _ annoying _ . He was older, he was supposed to be the better one, the leader. But instead, his sister had to be a literal prodigy, with blue fire, a cold, analytical mind, and occasional smugness that made Zuko wish he were a waterbender so that he could throw an enormous amount of something at her without leaving a mark.  _ Of course _ without leaving a mark. 

He may have been jealous and angry, but he would never subject her to what he’d gone through. Making sure no one was around, he reached up and brushed the scar over his left eye. 

It had been an accident, sure, but it was the reason he’d been limited to beginning firebending forms for the past three years. It was the reason his already good, but not prodigal skill level, had plummeted to that of a near beginner since his father and his uncle left.

And it was nothing if not frustrating.

Breathing hard, he raised his right arm, and shot out a burst of orange flame. It was stronger than any he had produced before. Exhilarated by the sudden burst of energy, he quickly struck out his other fist, wondering if he could possibly produce another flame of the same calibre. To his complete disappointment, only a tiny sputter appeared, causing him to stop short and nearly topple over.

It made sense, of course. His firebending with his left hand had been significantly weaker than his right for three years. Why would it be any different now?

Determined not to lose focus after one messed-up attempt, he took his stance again, and began to run through form after form. Each flame he produced was consistently mediocre, each strong enough to hold its own in a fight, none strong enough to ever win one. After what could have been two seconds or two hours, he truly did not know, he collapsed onto the sand, gasping for breath, exhausted.

How was he supposed to help his people, his family, all of the tired, old warriors who so desperately needed new firebenders, new blood, new  _ anything,  _ when he couldn’t produce anything better than  _ okay _ ?

It was the same question he’d been asking himself since father had left. How could he be the fighter this war needed when he’d never even been good enough to train with his father and little sister?

There were far too many days when being even remotely as heroic and helpful as he dreamed seemed like a goal so unattainable that Zuko didn’t even know why he bothered thinking about it. 

There was a storm coming. The grey clouds on the horizon were a dead giveaway. It was the sort of day that usually had Zuko sitting and contemplating his existence more than he should. A thinking day, which Zuko always hated. Like his sister, he preferred to keep working and focusing outside of his own mind. It was so much easier that way.

Seemingly seconds after his head hit the sand (or maybe it had been an hour, who knew?), Zuko was brought out of his thoughts by a literal flash. An arc of bright blue flame shot across the sky far above him. Instinctively, the teenager leapt to his feet, raising his hands in defense. It was a purely physical impulse; even though his mind knew that the blue flames posed no threat. His body had been that way ever since the accident, of course. Messed up just like everything else about him.

“You know, you actually weren’t awful that time.”

Slowly, Zuko let his defensive stance drop into relative relaxation as he turned to face Azula. She was perched on a rock, twirling her hair, and wearing a very irritating look of superiority. It was the same look she wore often. He could never tell if she intended to provoke him with it, or if it was just her natural state. Reading emotions was tricky with Azula. She was so focused on her bending and winning the war that she seemed never to think about feelings at all. Either she was very good at hiding them, even from herself, or she simply didn’t have them at all. Both were possibilities, but Zuko suspected it was the former. Azula may have been a perfectionist, but even she couldn’t make feelings go away.  
“You were watching me?”

“Don’t worry, not for too long. I finished my forms early and thought I’d come wait for you.”

Zuko sighed angrily. “I thought we’d agreed that you’d never watch me practice.”

Azula shrugged. “I figured you didn’t care that much when you started watching me all the time?” Seeing his look of surprise, she smirked. “What? You think I hadn’t noticed you spying on me?’

Zuko groaned. “That’s different. I don’t watch you just to criticize you and make fun of you.”

Azula’s face softened ever so slightly. “I wasn’t trying to make fun of you, Zu Zu. You know I don’t lie to build people up.”

“You said I wasn’t awful. That’s not a compliment.”

“It was an accurate description of your performance. You seemed like you thought it was completely horrific, so I thought I’d correct you.”

“Couldn’t you ever try using the word ‘good?’”

Azula looked down at her feet, steely righteousness on her face. “Father only told me _ that _ when I was truly spectacular. This war can’t afford to have us be cocky, Zuko. If we’re going to fight as though we’re good, it needs to be true.”

Zuko sighed inwardly. It was almost sad how much his sister was always focused on the war. “I suppose you’re right, if you look at it that way.”

Azula smirked, crossing her ankles over one another. “What do you ever mean, Zu Zu? I’m always right.”

“I said I  _ supposed  _ you were right, and only if you’re going by your messed-up view of the world.”

Azula crossed her arms defensively over her chest. “And whatever do you mean by that?”

This sort of bickering was commonplace among the two siblings. Both had been competitive from a young age, and both preferred bitter truth to sickly sweet lies. Though they perhaps threw around harsh words too easily for their own good, neither of them meant any real harm. It had simply always been like this; playful, sharp teasing, crossed arms and quizzical smirks.

Zuko rolled his eyes. “I just meant that not everything is about the war, and it wouldn’t kill you to give a compliment like a normal person every now and then.”

Hopping off the rock, Azula rolled her eyes right back. “What would you know about normal? We live on a beach island with a population that consists entirely of the elderly, our mother, and children that don’t even reach your knees when they stand up. If you’ve been sneaking off to meet some normal teenagers, do tell me where you’re going. I’d like to know.”

Zuko put on a confident face. An opportunity to trick his sister, even just in good fun, and for petty reasons, rarely presented itself.

“Come with me and I’ll show you.”

Azula raised an eyebrow in disbelief. A flicker of curiosity crossed her face, and Zuko tried not to smirk.

He did love those moments when he could outsmart her.

She knew he was lying, of course. Azula had a knack for telling when people were lying to her. She’d picked it up as a young child, ever since the well-intentioned lies fed to her by her mother began to contrast with the stark truths her father told her. And even without her skill, Zuko was still a complete open book. When she’d spoken, his face had lit up, as though a great idea had occurred to him. Then, he’d put on an expression that was more confident than any she’d ever seen him wear, too confident for the circumstances. Zuko was quite a good actor in the little plays the village children had occasionally put on growing up, before the older ones had all gone to fight in the war. He had a way of conveying human emotion that came naturally to him  _ if  _ you gave him a script and directions. On the spot, coming up with the stories in his own head? He was absolutely terrible. Endearingly terrible, but terrible. Really, it was a wonder that they were even related. Azula was an excellent liar when she needed to be. It was another skill she’d had since she was a child, though she wasn’t sure where she had picked it up. The truth was almost always better than lies. 

Still, she followed her brother out of the small beach village and into the island’s forest anyway. As they headed further and further from home and closer to the mountains, she couldn’t help but wonder what exactly her brother was planning. He clearly had no one to meet with, so where was he planning on taking her? It wasn’t as if there was anywhere to go. Ember Island consisted of a beach that wound around the entire edge, followed by humid jungles that sloped steeply upwards into the island’s mountains. At its center was a towering volcano, from which the island got its name. It had been dormant for centuries, but legend had it that its lava ran under many of the neighboring mountains. Residents of their village rarely, if ever, travelled into the mountains. If they needed food, they got it from the jungle, and the mountains were too dangerous to enter unless there was something enormous to be gained. 

Azula often found herself thinking of life as a scale. Each day she made choice after choice, weighing the possible gain against the consequences. She wasn’t sure if that was how everyone else thought, but the pattern suited her just fine. 

They were getting awfully close to the edge of the jungle now. In a minute, they would have to step out of the safety of the forest and onto the rocky, narrow mountain paths. There, landslides and rocks falling away from underneath your feet were a common occurrence, and should a thunderstorm arrive, as they often did, there was nowhere to hide. 

Azula had gone into the mountains only once, as a young child, out of pure curiosity. Once she had discovered that there was nothing particularly interesting there, she had never come back, but she could see in the confidence in Zuko’s steps that he knew where he was going. Interesting.

Her brother was clearly not meeting with any secret group of teenagers, but it seemed that he had been here before. Considering that he loved to disobey the authority when he was angry, this didn’t come as a complete surprise, but it was an interesting twist nonetheless.

They walked for what seemed like hours. With each step Azula took, she felt the ground beneath her feet growing hotter and hotter. As they travelled up the spiralling paths, Azula could look over her shoulder and see all the way out over the trees to the beach, and beyond that, the vast, blue expanse of ocean. Azula was wary of the ocean, as any sensible Fire Nation citizen would be, but it had never once been a threat to her and her family. Well, except for one time.

She was never going to forget that time. 

Looking down, Azula felt a bit dizzy. She had no fear of heights, but she had lived on the beaches her entire life. She had never travelled this high up before. Seeing your whole, small world spread out below you...well, it put into perspective just how insignificant you were.

Insignificance was not a feeling Azula was used to. From the time she was a child, she had known she was special. A firebending prodigy, with a talent unheard of in at least a hundred years. She was bound to play an important role in this war. A firebender of her caliber could win any fight, and to top it all off, she had trained at strategy since she had learned to read. She knew how to spot an opponent’s weak point, how to play to your own strengths, and how to craft a plan that could fool even the cleverest of Water Tribe fighters.

Yet somehow, up here, facing the enormous ocean that could be so easily turned into an enemy weapon, all of her skills somehow seemed less important. It was a ridiculous feeling, of course. She was not afraid of heights, nor would she ever question her own importance. It was simply a fact of her life, like the fact that she had black hair, or golden eyes.

Still, being up here definitely put things into perspective. She wondered if that was why her brother came up here so often. He still hadn’t told her outright that he had been here before, but the sureness in his footsteps was a dead giveaway, especially in contrast with Azula’s caution. With each step she took, she made sure to check for loose rocks and cracks in the ground. 

This made it even more surprising when she suddenly stepped into air, and felt herself falling off the mountain. 

Zuko was used to silence. He had been training entirely on his own for three years, and before that, he had spent many nights out on the beach by himself, unable to sleep, not wanting to wake his mother or uncle, and staring out into the open ocean and sky.

He liked the silence, even. Often, he found himself relishing it, dwelling in it, if only to find a second of peace in the middle of a war-torn world. 

It was because of his familiarity with silence that he noticed the odd silence behind him so quickly.

His sister had not been walking noisily by any means, but each step she took had been careful, and made the old stones creak ever so slightly when her foot hit the ground. He hadn’t even registered the noise until it wasn’t there anymore. Instantly, he whirled around, and to his horror, found only empty air behind him. In a flash, a fraction of the cliff had somehow fallen away, taking his sister with it. Panting in sudden panic, he rushed to the edge of the cliff. To his relief, Azula was hanging there. Her fingers had caught onto a ledge a few feet below him, and she appeared to have a relatively strong grip, though he was sure her fingers were slipping faster than her calm expression was letting on. 

It was strange to be staring down at her this way. Despite her being his literal sister, Zuko often felt as though he didn’t know Azula at all. Both siblings were introverted, and tended towards comfortable silences rather than making the effort to form words, but it was more than that. As long as Zuko could remember, Azula had been the epitome of power. She had been strong, fearless, and dedicated, training with her father, and then on her own, never wanting to slow down long enough to wait for him. 

Now, simply because of his rebellious outbursts in the past that had led him to know the mountains, their roles had been reversed. 

It was strange, having this sort of power over her. Zuko wasn’t sure if it was exhilarating or absolutely terrifying. 

Azula didn’t like the way her brother was looking down at her.

It wasn’t as though she thought he was going to let her fall when she was within his reach. For one, he had absolutely no reason to. More importantly, he would never kill anyone. He was too preoccupied with his honor. He always had been.

Truth be told, Azula wasn’t sure if she could kill, either. She knew she wouldn’t if it was unnecessary, of course, but if forced to...she preferred not to dwell on that. As a warrior, she felt compelled to say  _ yes _ , _ of course _ she would, but she was also old enough to know that killing was a decision you made in the moment. You never knew the outcome of the fight until it was already over.

In fact, that was somewhat how she felt at this very moment. Uncertain. The look in Zuko’s eyes made it look as though he was thinking far too much, contemplating something profound, though what exactly he was contemplating, she did not know. 

This wouldn’t bother her at all, if not for the fact that she was hanging off a cliff, her fingers slowly slipping away. 

She wasn’t afraid of death itself. She had imagined her own death many times in imagining her future life as a soldier for her nation. She had always pictured her life as a bright flame, one that would burn out so brightly that the whole world would stop and stare. If she was going to die, it would be for her nation, and it would be doing something  _ important.  _

So she was determined not to die in this way, before she’d even had a chance to become what she was always meant to be. 

The only thing standing in her way was her brother and his strange thoughts. 

She stared coldly up at him, her golden eyes glimmering in the late afternoon sunlight. His darker eyes stared right back into hers. In the shadows of the East, they looked nearly black.

A gust of wind swept over the back of Azula’s neck as she held on tightly.

The twilight had suddenly turned very eerie indeed. 

Zuko had meant to pull her up. Truly, he had. But just as he had been about to, the mountainside had suddenly grown darker. Night was falling fast, so much faster than it should, and the air was suddenly blisteringly hot. The rocks themselves seemed to be moving with a deeper force, one that made Zuko confused, and maybe even a little afraid. 

“You know, I don’t have all night.” His sister’s voice was sharp and biting, in direct contrast to the soft shadows and quiet breezes surrounding them. He searched for the strange sensation that had hung in the air moments ago, but it had vanished. Irritated, he bent down to face her. The coldness in her stare was not unfamiliar, but for some reason, it bothered him tonight more than usual. He felt his arm come to a sudden stop, his fingers hanging inches above hers.

“What do you even need me for?” His voice was low, but his tone was serious, and harsher than he had intended. He felt the blistering heat of the air run through him, igniting something strange within. “If I weren’t here, you would just get back up by yourself. What does it even matter if I’m here or not?”

Azula rolled her eyes. “Zuzu, really. We can deal with your inferiority complex and your immense immaturity later, but I am hanging off a cliff, and neither of us has forever to be stuck up here.” Her words only angered him, filling him with a strange fury that was not entirely his own. 

“Why do you always have to talk down to me? Would it kill you, just once, to act like a normal person?” The words flew out of his mouth, each faster than the last.

Azula rolled her eyes dismissively yet again. “Really, Zuzu, we’re fighting a war. We’re past the point of normality. You of all people should realize that.”

“That doesn’t mean you always have to treat me like I’m a child!” Zuko hadn’t realized he was yelling until his fist slammed into the cliff beside him. He hadn’t felt any emotion this strongly in a long time. It was so strong that it seemed to come from outside his own body. The rocks shook, and below him, Azula let out a small, involuntary scream. Her cheeks flushed once she realized that she had been heard. 

Zuko stood up straight as he felt the rocks grow hotter beneath his feet. “You act like you’re so much better than me. You always have. But the truth is, you’re no one, just like the rest of us! You’re not a soldier, Azula. You’re just a stuck-up girl who thinks she’s worth more than she is.”

Azula’s eyes narrowed into slits. Despite being inches from a deadly fall, she still managed to seem intimidating. “Oh, you want to talk about worthlessness? What about you? You are the  _ epitome  _ of mediocrity. You always have been, and you always will be. There is  _ nothing  _ about you that makes you memorable.”

“You’re wrong!” Zuko hadn’t meant to give her a reaction, he  _ knew  _ that was what she wanted, but he couldn’t help it. “You’re cruel. Azula. And you’re a liar.”

Azula’s face was stony. “I’m no crueler than anyone else. And I only lie when I have to. Can you say the same? Why did you even bring me out here? Were you hoping to gain some sort of power over me? An upper hand? I swear to Agni, sometimes you can be so impossible.”

“ Shut  _ up _ !” Zuko’s chest was full of fire now, strange fire, from somewhere else. Even his words were hardly his own anymore. Azula could fling deadly insults without much weight behind them, as she was doing now, but there was real power behind Zuko’s words, power that didn’t belong to him. He didn’t know where it had come from, and it was starting to scare him.

The mountain shook again. Azula’s eyes widened below him as she nearly fell off the ledge. When she spoke, her tone was cool. The sharpness of her earlier words was gone. “Zuko, listen to me. The fire in these rocks is active. I can feel it, and I know you can, too. It’s making you angry, angrier than you should be.”

“Don’t tell me how I should feel!”

“I’m not going to let myself fall off a cliff while you sit and work out your  _ feelings _ ! The fire here is influencing you! Why can’t you see that?”

“Oh, like you’re immune! Of course you think you’re better than a volcano!”

“I don’t, Zuko! I don’t know where all of this is coming from, but for Agni’s sake, stop being such an utter  _ idiot _ !” As Azula yelled, streaks of blue ran from her hand into the rocks.

“I am  _ not  _ an  _ idiot _ !” As Zuko shouted, his hand slammed into the mountain. Orange rays ran into the stone. Beneath his feet, the mountain became burning hot. For a second, all he could feel was blistering pain. His vision grew hazy, and he fell to the ground, nearly tumbling over the side. As his back hit the stone, he felt the strange anger drain out of him, as quickly as it had come. 

So why was the mountain still shaking?

Azula would admit, if only to herself, that perhaps she had been unnecessarily cruel. It was well known on Ember Island that volcanic fire often had strange effects on people, especially firebenders, changing their behaviors, and even their own emotions. Ordinarily, she would wonder whether her brother’s strange anger was rooted in any sort of truth, but she currently was dealing with more pressing matters. Namely, hanging off the side of a shaking mountain.

As the mountain gave one last enormous shake and the rock grew even hotter beneath her fingers, she felt her hand begin to blister. Though firebenders’ skin did not burn easily, she gasped in pain, knowing how hot the stone must have truly had to be. At last, she couldn’t take it anymore, and she allowed her fingers to let go of the cliff.

She was only in the air for a split second before she felt a strong hand on her wrist. She looked up to see her brother laying on the side of the cliff, hand outstretched, holding onto her. The apologies on both their parts for their fire-amplified angry words went unspoken. 

With a jolt, the entire mountainside seemed to fall apart, causing the blistering hot rocks to come crashing down into the valley below, and causing Zuko to go flying over the edge. 

The siblings felt as though they were free falling forever. Zuko knew the feeling of his life flashing before his eyes. Just like the last two times he experienced it, he was unprepared for it now. Azula couldn’t even think of her past; her mind was too busy taking in every small detail around her: the heat, the falling rocks, the sudden orange glow coming to the mountainside.

From the top of the mountain, a brilliant beam of orange light rose into the sky.

***

From the deck of his ship, Sokka paced back and forth anxiously. Though his crewmates often praised his strategizing skills and called him a master of plans, there were many times when he felt completely clueless. This was one of them. Here, in the remote Fire Nation islands, there was nothing to help his search. Hell, there was hardly anything at all.

All of a sudden, a bright beam of orange light shot up from the center of an island to the East. It was still a little ways off, perhaps a day’s trip, but Sokka could still make it out incredibly clearly.

He spun around as quickly as he could, and raced to the stern of the ship, where a man was sitting, stirring a pot of stew. 

“Bato! Did you see that light?”

The man sat back leisurely. “Everyone for miles saw that thing.”

“Could it be the Avatar? After all these years?”

Bato sighed. Sokka had no idea why. “Sokka, that light could be the Avatar. It could also be anything else. In the end, you’re the captain of this ship. This decision is yours to make.”

Sokka perched on the side of the ship, leaning almost dangerously over the side, staring at the faraway island. 

“I  _ know  _ it’s the Avatar,” he mumbled, more to himself than anyone else. “It’s instinct. I’m sure of it.”

He turned to face Bato again, wearing a rare smile. “Do you realize what this means?”

Bato rolled his eyes good-naturedly. “It means I won’t get to finish stewing my Sea Prunes.”

***

As suddenly as the siblings had fallen, they were suddenly shooting upwards to the top of the mountain, and landing on its edge. Although this mountain was not a volcano, there was now an enormous crater in the top of it. In the center of the crater was a boy.

Curious, Azula slid down into the crater and walked over to him. He was laying on the stone and seemed to be entirely unconscious. He was beaten and battered, his yellow and orange clothes containing many tears, but he seemed peaceful. He had no hair, only blue tattoos on his head, each in the shape of an arrow. He was young, too. He couldn’t have been more than twelve.

As Azula stared down at him, she felt Zuko’s presence next to her. She had an inkling of what sort of person he might be, but that was impossible. The Air Nomads had died nearly a century ago. And yet, this strange boy lay before her.

With a jolt, the boy opened his eyes. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope y'all enjoyed this chapter! I was kind of nervous about writing for ATLA, so I hope I didn't offend any longtime fans or anything like that.  
> If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them.


	2. Welcome to Ember Island.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A strange young boy emerges from a mountain, and gets to know a pair of almost equally strange siblings, as they introduce him to their home. Meanwhile, a Water Tribe soldier gets closer and closer to achieving his goal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2 is here! This one is a little slow, sorry about that! I have to stick close-ish to canon for these first couple of chapters, in order to establish character dynamics and get the plot moving. I tried to make it more interesting, but, well...the end result is 7k words. Hopefully y'all enjoy it anyway:)  
> TW for descriptions of symptoms based off those of Alzheimer's Disease.

Aang flinched at the bright sunlight that was suddenly shining in his eyes. The last thing he remembered, it had been nighttime. And then...only pitch black. He blinked again, his view getting less and less blurry by the second. As his eyes cleared, he realized that it was twilight, almost dark. So why had it seemed  _ so  _ bright?

Two faces swam into view just above him, a boy and a girl. Though the boy was a couple of years older than the girl, the pair were obviously siblings. Both shared the same face shape, an angular oval with a sharp chin, the same pale skin tone, and the same hair that was neither dark brown nor black, but somewhere in between. Though their eyes differed in shape and slightly in color, both pairs of eyes shared a golden undertone that Aang had never seen before. The only massive difference between the two was the massive burn scar covering the boy’s left eye. Aang wondered where he could have gotten that.

The boy was standing about half an inch closer, and looked a lot friendlier than the girl. He was looking at him with wide eyes full of curiosity, whereas the girl had her arms folded over her chest, and looked mildly interested in him, but also like she thought he might jump up and kill her at any moment.

He decided that talking to the boy was the better option. 

“I need to ask you something…”

The boy was about to answer when his sister gave him a sharp jab in the shoulder, shooting him a glare that sent shivers down Aang’s spine. After a few seconds of staring between the siblings, the sister rolled her eyes and stepped back, hands still raised defensively in front of her. 

“What?”

Aang’s voice was still not as loud as he wanted it to be. “Come closer…”

The boy’s eyes looked a little like giant saucers. “What is it?”

Aang grinned at the prospect of having fun again. It really  _ had _ been a while. “Will you go swinging on the jungle vines with me?”

The boy gave him a confused look. “Um...sure. Why not?”

Full of energy at the idea of vine swinging, Aang sprung to his feet, causing the boy to leap back in surprise, and the girl to raise her hands even higher. 

Looking around, Aang was surprised. The last thing Aang remembered was the nighttime, and before that, the Southern Air Temple. But the scenery around him couldn’t have been more different. Instead of the tall, grey peaks of the Air Temple, he was standing in the middle of a cluster of short, steep, dark-colored mountains. Beneath the mountains was a dense jungle, and under that, a beach, followed by miles and miles of ocean, stretching out in every direction. He didn’t remember this. He only remembered flying, lightning, smoke, and then falling…

He rubbed the back of his head in confusion. “What’s going  _ on _ ?”

As if to answer his question, a giant pile of rocks behind him began to move. With an enormous rumble, the rocks flew backward, revealing a huge familiar furry form, asleep. 

“Appa!” Aang raced towards the other side of the crater, filled with joy to see his best friend again. “Are you all right?” He gave the bison a playful nudge. In response, with a low grumble, Appa rolled onto his feet and stood up, shaking off the dust. Aang grinned widely in relief. “You’re okay!”

There was a sharp cough behind him, and Aang’s attention was brought back to the pair of siblings. Both were staring at Appa with a mix of awe and confusion on their faces. The girl still looked suspicious, though a little less than before.

“What  _ is  _ that thing?”

Aang smiled. “This is Appa! My flying bison!”

The girl rolled her eyes. “Nice try. That’s about the most mathematically unlikely thing I’ve ever heard. Do you even know how numbers work?”

“Azula!” The boy shot her a sharp look, but she only rolled her eyes again in response. 

“I’m only saying that if he was trying to come up with a lie, he should have chosen one that was more probable!”

“I’m not lying!” called Aang from his seat next to Appa. “He’s my best friend.”

The girl (Azula?) crossed her arms over her chest and stared back at him. “You’re awfully young to be a spy. But I suppose it’s not inconceivable that the Water Tribes are recruiting untrained children now.”

“What do you mean?” Aang asked, but before he could get an answer, he felt his nose tickle. With a giant sneeze, he felt himself shooting high up into the air, then slowly floating back down again. Both siblings were staring at him as he landed, their jaws practically on the ground.

“Impossible!” muttered Azula to herself. “That must have been at least ten feet!”

“Huh,” said Aang, staring quizzically at the sky, “I thought it was higher than that.”

“You’re an airbender!” cried the boy excitedly, an emotion that looked out of place on his somewhat naturally grumpy face. 

Aang grinned. If he had hair, he would have ruffled it. “Sure am!”

Azula stared at him coldly. “And I thought you couldn’t come up with anything more improbable than a flying bison.”

The boy (Aang still hadn’t caught his name) turned around to face her. “Come on, Azula. He’s wearing Air Nomad clothes. What else could he be?”

“Any number of things more likely than an actual Air Nomad.” She began to walk towards the edge of the crater. “Come on, Zuko. It’s getting dark. We need to get home.”

She was stopped in her tracks by a large pile of rocks blocking her path. She turned around, sighing. 

Aang gave her a friendly wave. Even though the girl was a little snappish and cynical, and the boy was a little grumpy, Aang liked the pair of siblings. They seemed like good people.

“If you guys are stuck up here, Appa and I could give you a ride home. You live down on the beach, right?”

Azula’s eyes narrowed. “And why would you care so much about where we live?”

Zuko flung his arms up in exasperation. “Azula, he’s trying to help us!”

“I’m simply looking out for our home. As  _ you _ should be.” Azula glared at Aang again. “You haven’t even told us your name.”

Aang decided that he felt like hanging upside down from Appa’s saddle for a while. Both siblings looked a lot weirder upside down. “I’m Aang.’

Azula gave him a wry smile. “In case you didn’t already hear, my name is Azula. The reckless dum-dum over here is my brother, Zuko. Now, if you decide to kill us, you’ll always remember the people who made you regret trying to destroy them.” Her gaze was strong and unyielding. He got the sense that she would stare at him for all eternity if she thought that it would protect her and the rest of the island. 

Even though Azula wasn’t actually dangerous to him, Aang still felt sweat beading on his forehead. If he  _ had  _ been a spy, she would have made him rethink his choices. Since he wasn’t a spy, though, he swung back up onto Appa’s back, still smiling. “Well, it’s okay if you don’t want to come with us, but since you don’t seem to have another way back, I’d really be happy just to take you.” He gave Azula a genuine smile. She stared back wryly, a lot less suspicious than before, but not completely convinced.

He wondered what could have happened to her to make her so mistrustful.

Zuko, on the other hand, seemed to have none of the same reservations as his sister. Clearly anxious to get back home, wherever his home was, he ran towards Appa eagerly, and tried to leap up onto the sky bison’s back. Since Zuko was nowhere near tall enough to actually do that, he ended up falling onto the ground, resulting in Azula laughing as she walked over. Her laugh was almost fairylike, but not quite. There was a darker quality to it, too, lingering just below the surface. As Aang reached down and pulled Zuko up onto Appa’s back, Zuko stared down at his toes, his face flushing with embarrassment. Aang grinned at him. “Don’t worry. Everyone does that the first time they try to get on.”

In response, Azula looked Aang straight in the eye, and walked smoothly onto Appa’s back, using his tail as a bridge. She sat down near the back of the saddle and cocked her head, smirking. “Everyone?”

Aang rolled his eyes good-naturedly. Azula may have been a bit prickly, but it seemed like something awful had happened to her, or her people. He could understand her protectiveness of her village, and once she realized that he wasn’t trying to hurt them, he had a feeling they could be friends. Maybe. “Well, almost everyone.”

As the siblings got their bearings, trying to sit comfortably on Appa’s round back, Aang turned forwards, grabbing Appa’s reins and giving his friend a pat on the head. “First time flyers, Appa. Okay, Yip-Yip!”

Nothing happened.

Azula laughed again. “Wow. I thought you’d at least put on a better show than that. You’ve certainly put in a lot of effort so far.”

Aang sighed, only a little annoyed. “All right, Appa. Yip-yip!” 

This time, the sky bison got to his feet with a groan and a rumble, causing all three passengers to go flying into the air for a fraction of a second. Instead of flying, however, Appa began to walk slowly down a wide bowl on the northern side of the mountain. 

Azula folded her arms over her chest as she leaned against the back of the saddle. “Wow. The living creature is capable of physical motion. I’m dying in shock.”

As they made their way down the mountain, Zuko came up to sit next to Aang. His eyes had a storminess to them that Aang hadn’t noticed before, a deeper, angry fire simmering beneath the surface. Azula had it, too, but with her, it had been clear from the moment they’d met, because she’d chosen to show it to him. Right now, though, Zuko didn’t look angry. Mostly he looked awkward and a little nervous. 

“Don’t listen to my sister. She thinks she’s always right.”

“That’s all right.” Aang stared at the path ahead as Appa made his way through the rocks. “You live to the east, right? That’s where your path came from.”

Zuko nodded. “We’ve lived there for our whole lives. We’ve never even left this island.”

Aang let out a soft sigh as they continued making their way through the red rocks. “I remember when I was like that, ” he muttered to himself. 

Zuko didn’t hear him. 

***

As the ship got closer to the west side of the island, Sokka couldn’t bring himself to leave the crow’s nest. He had been staring out of his telescope for hours, looking in the area where the orange light had first come from, but he had found nothing, partially because they were still too far away, but mostly because there was nothing to find. If he hadn’t seen the light himself, he would have thought that he’d imagined it.

A yawning Bato crawled up into the crow’s nest behind him. Sokka hadn’t seen the older soldier all afternoon. He almost got the sense that he was avoiding him. 

“I’m going to bed.” Sokka gave a small nod in reply, and waved his hand lazily. When Bato didn’t leave the crow’s nest, he sighed and turned away from his view for the first time in hours. “What? Did you want a hug or something? I thought we didn’t do that.”

Bato sighed, leaning against the mast. “Sokka...even if the Avatar’s alive, that doesn’t mean you’ll find him. Your father tried, so did your grandfather, so did many Water Tribe leaders, going all the way back to Amaruq a hundred years ago. What makes you think you can do any better? You’re talented, Sokka, but you’re sixteen, too.” 

Sokka tore his eyes away from Bato and fixed his gaze on the horizon once more. “Because they didn’t  _ need _ to find the Avatar in order to be a part of something. But I do. I’m not going to let  _ anyone _ take my family away from me. Not when I’m this close. ”

***

It was nearly pitch black by the time they reached the jungle. Aang stared worriedly ahead of them, and pulled Appa to a stop. Seeing his face, Zuko crawled up next to him and allowed a small flame to flicker in his hand, lighting the path ahead of them. Aang stared at him in awe.

“You’re a firebender!”

Zuko sighed as he felt his shoulders slump with the very familiar feeling of shame and embarrassment that came with still being a beginner in firebending when you were sixteen. “Not really. Not like my sister.”

The two boys glanced at Azula, who had fallen asleep near the back of the saddle, with her head resting on her hands, her knees pulled in close to her chest, and her dark hair spilling out all around her. 

“What do you mean?”

Zuko sighed. He didn’t feel like talking about this, especially not with Aang, who, while he seemed perfectly nice, was still basically a stranger. He decided to sum it up as quickly as he could. “My sister’s a firebending prodigy. She’s been talented since she was a kid. I was never like that. I was just normal, and…” he paused, feeling his hand brush the scar on his face “I’ve been having trouble for a while.”

“But you’re still a firebender.”

Zuko sighed as they continued through the jungle. “I guess you’re right. I guess it’s just that...whenever we talk about firebending, we talk about my sister. I guess I just kind of associate it with her.”

Aang gave him a slightly pitying smile that annoyed him a bit. “Well, from where I’m sitting, you’re both firebenders.”

Zuko pulled his knees in close to his chest, feeling his lips curve into a frown. “I guess. It’s not like we even count. We’re not fully trained.”

Aang didn’t ask why. Zuko wondered how much he really knew about the world. He seemed too happy for this war-torn planet.

Come to think of it, if Aang really was an airbender…

“What’cha thinkin’ about?” Aang’s voice brought him out of his silence.

Zuko shook his head. “Nothing. I was just wondering if...since you’re an airbender...if you knew anything about the Avatar. My father and uncle heard stories about the Avatar when they were growing up, and when we were kids, my sister used to play detective and try to search for them.” The small smile on his face as he remembered his childhood was quickly cut off by the sad look on Aang’s face. “What?’

Aang looked down, avoiding Zuko’s gaze. “Nothing. I didn’t know him. I mean, I knew people that knew people that knew him, but nothing like you’re thinking.” He gave a weak smile. “Sorry.”

Zuko was about to say that it was alright when he saw that Aang had dropped off to sleep. It had been almost frighteningly fast. Zuko hoped that everything was okay.

Luckily, Zuko didn’t need to take the reins with only one hand. Somehow the sky bison (Apple? Aura?) seemed to know where it was going. 

There was a rustle as his sister crawled up next to him. She lit a second flame in her hand to brighten the path even more. The jungle glowed in front of them, alternating between warm orange and cold, electric blue. 

“Why don’t you trust him?” The question was simple, but Azula still sighed in exaggerated irritation before answering.

“Because, dum-dum, I don’t trust anyone I don’t know. We  _ are  _ at war, if you remember.”

“He’s a twelve year old kid.”

“I’m a fourteen year old kid. Would you trust me if I came tumbling out of a volcano and tried to follow you home?”

“That’s different! You would act way less trustworthy!”

Azula stared at Appa’s head for a second. Had she been hurt by his answer? Before he could really discern anything, though, her snarky expression was back. “The better question is, why  _ do _ you trust him?”

Zuko shrugged. “I don’t know. Instincts, I guess. I just  _ feel  _ like it’s the right thing to do to trust him. The honorable thing.”

Azula let out a groan. “You and your silly little honor.”

“What’s so silly about honor?”

Before Azula could answer, they were interrupted by a shaking at their feet. Aang was trembling in his sleep, muttering nervously, sweat beading down his face. With an uncharacteristic gentleness, Azula reached down to wake him up, as Zuko looked ahead to their village, which was just becoming visible through the trees. As usual, he hadn’t told his sister what he really wanted to say.

_ Why can’t you trust me? _

“Aang!’ Azula shook the boy as gently as she knew how. He sat bolt upright, causing her to fall onto her back in surprise. She regained her composure as quickly as possible, tying her hair into a topknot as she sat up. It was a style she wore often, for she liked how powerful and composed it made her feel. “What happened to  _ you _ ?”

Aang’s face turned bright red and his hands clasped together in fear as he stared down into his lap. “Nothing.”

Azula’s eyes narrowed. She wasn’t an idiot. She could tell the boy was lying, and she wasn’t too keen on letting a lying stranger into her home. But, though she would never admit it out loud to anyone, she, like her brother, had a feeling about the boy. Ordinarily, she would never be foolish enough to act on pure instinct and emotion unless she absolutely had to. But for now, she would give Aang the benefit of the doubt. 

The trio dismounted the bison and came face to face with a crowd of around twenty people. Azula knew each and every one of them, and had since she was a small girl. 

She waved her hand. “Aang, meet the people of Ember Island. People of Ember Island, this is Aang.”

Aang smiled and bowed to the crowd, an ancient custom in the Fire Nation, and a little odd, but polite nonetheless. 

The village stared at Aang in awe. Nobody said a word. Zuko grinned awkwardly, while Azula stared right back, allowing her gaze to harden. 

For Agni’s sake, not everyone on Ember Island was the brightest sunbeam in the sky, sure, but Azula had expected them to at least have some semblance of empathy. Would  _ they _ like to be gawked at like a specimen in a museum if they were newcomers in some other village?

To her left, Azula heard Aang whispering (quite loudly) to Zuko. “Why are they all staring at me?”

As if to answer, the crowd parted, and two elderly women stepped through. Lo and Li were Ember Island’s resident guardians, and sources of wisdom for all its inhabitants. They had lived on the beach for longer than anyone could remember, and at times, it seemed as though their spirits were one with the island. 

Lo (or Li; the two women exited their clifftop hut so infrequently that Azula still had trouble telling them apart, even after fourteen years) stepped forward out of the crowd and took Aang’s hands gently, staring up into his grey eyes. 

“Child, you must understand. No one on this island has seen an airbender in a hundred years. We all thought they were extinct.”

Aang’s eyes grew wide, his pupils dilated, and small teardrops began to form in the corners. It was such a rapid change that it would have been comical if it hadn’t been so sad. 

“Extinct?”

Seeing Aang’s distress, Zuko stepped in and rapidly tried to change the subject. “Aang, this is Lo and Li. They’re basically in charge of this town.”

Li (or rather, whichever one hadn’t already spoken to Aang) reached out her arms in welcome, while Lo placed her hands on her hips and turned to stare at Zuko. “Basically?”

Spying a strange wooden device under Aang’s arm, Azula reached out and grabbed it, revealing a long wooden staff. She examined it curiously. “What’s this, some sort of weapon? I’ve never seen a weapon designed like this.”

Aang reached over and took it back from her. “That’s not a weapon! It’s a glider. It’s for flying!” With a flick, wings sprouted off of the staff. From the front of the crowd, the village’s small children clapped and cheered. Looking at them, Azula was reminded of her younger years, when she, too, would participate in the town plays, and run around reading detective stories, trying to piece together the mysteries.

Yet, standing in front of her right now was the biggest mystery she had ever encountered. 

Azula cocked her head. “I may be stating the obvious, but as I recall, humans can’t fly.”

Aang flashed her a grin. He really did smile a lot, didn’t he? “Well, maybe you recalled wrong!” And with that, he took a flying leap into the air. His glider caught on the sea breezes, propelling him forward up the beach. The entire crowd followed him as he travelled towards the houses, then towards one house in particular, near the top of the hill, built into the cliff…

Zuko flung himself in front of Aang before he could get any further. The airbender came to a rapid stop, nearly crashing to the ground. “What’s wrong?”

Azula sighed as she came up behind them. “Our mother’s in there. She...doesn’t like surprises. It might be best to leave your glider outside.”

As they entered the house, Aang wondered what could possibly be wrong with Zuko and Azula’s mother. It was clearly something, from the way they talked about her, but Aang hadn’t seen many adults in his life. He probably wouldn’t even be able to tell. 

He was wrong.

The woman was tall and thinner than she should have been. She shared the siblings’ pale complexion, Azula’s ever so slightly wavy hair, and her golden eyes. She sat on the sofa, slightly hunched over, and stroking a flower in her lap as though it were a pet. Aang got the sense that, in her mind, it was. 

She looked up, and Aang was stricken by that profoundly  _ off  _ gleam in her eyes. It was like she was living life on a completely different plane of existence from the rest of them.

“Hello,” she said softly, staring straight forward, and speaking to no one in particular. 

Zuko sat next to her on the sofa, placing his hand on her shoulder. “Hi, Mom.”

She showed no response. She didn’t even seem to realize that he was there at all. Azula walked over and placed her hand on her other shoulder, but the woman’s body instinctively jerked away. Sighing, Azula began tapping her fingers on the table, making a simple rhythm with her hands. Her mother swayed to the rhythm, not quite on the beat. She continued to stare straight ahead, not seeing them, not even knowing that they existed.

After a few minutes, Zuko sighed and made his way to the back of the house. Azula followed him, and Aang followed her. She mentioned something about a spare hammock out on the patio, but Aang hardly heard her. He was too busy thinking about their mother.

As soon as the three were out on the wooden deck, Aang turned to face Zuko and Azula.

“Has she always been like that?”

Zuko shook his head once. No.

“What happened?” Seeing the grim looks on the siblings’ faces, Aang’s frown deepened. “Did someone  _ do  _ that to her?”

“Oh, Aang,” sighed Azula, “we have a  _ lot _ to tell you in the morning.”

***

As the sun was rising, Sokka raised his sword up, keeping his stance wide and his blade angled ever so slightly to the right. One by one, his crewmen began to race towards him. Each had been equipped with a different weapon and instructed to attack him. 

Sokka had been training to use a sword ever since he’d left the Southern Water Tribe three years ago. As a child, he’d trained to fight with a boomerang, a weapon he still carried to this day. But he’d learned after several months of brutal attacks on their ship that a child’s plaything wasn’t going to cut it when it came to battle. He’d stopped at a port city, went to a blacksmith to fashion himself a sword, and had begun training that same day. Bato, who had trained as part of the Water Tribe army, was more experienced with a spear than a sword, but the general techniques were similar. Parry and thrust.

He was only fighting four of his crewmen, a measly number compared to the battles he would fight one day, the day he found the Avatar and brought him to his father with confidence, and finally took his rightful place as a fighter, as a leader. 

The first crewman came racing at him from the left, brandishing a long spear with a whale’s tooth for a point. Rapidly twisting his arms, Sokka swung his sword around to the left and parried the strike. Using his smaller size and momentum, he bent his legs and rolled under the long spear, leaping up behind his opponent and using the blunt side of his sword to knock him to the ground.

The second crewman tried to attack him from behind. Thinking quickly, Sokka ducked again, swinging his foot out and swiping the crewman’s feet out from under him. Moving his sword into a one-handed grip, he raced across the deck of the ship, trying to put a little distance between himself and the other crewmen. 

His other two assailants looked at him warily. Having put about ten feet between them and himself, Sokka allowed his stance to widen again. He raised his sword up directly in front of his face, turning it sideways so that the sharp end of the blade was pointed directly in front of him. 

The third crewman raced towards him as fast as he could. Sokka bent his knees, ready to dodge whatever strike was coming from the man’s club, but instead of running straight at him like the other two crewmen had, this one leapt into the air, flying over Sokka’s head and landing on the mast just a few feet past him. Sokka whirled around to begin attacking on the offensive, but before he could get any closer to the mast, he felt a tug on his ankle. In a flash, he was lying facedown on the deck, and the third crewman was standing over him, tapping his club against his hand. Groaning, Sokka rolled over to see what had made him fall.

The fourth crewman was standing behind him. He was holding a whip.

Bato came over as the crewmen dispersed, each going back to their regular tasks. Each of them was lucky enough to not have to worry about the outcome of their little practice fights. Sokka had no such luxury.

“That wasn’t bad,” said Bato. “But you were too reckless. You didn't consider all the elements of the battlefield. You’re a strategist, Sokka. If you’re going to fight blindly and aggressively like you tried to just there, you need to put in all the effort you possibly can. If you’re going to be clever, you need to be decisive and conserve your energy. You can’t have it both ways.”

Sokka sighed as he pulled himself to his feet. “Don’t get mad at me for being too reckless. I was bored. I’ve been fighting these same four crewmen for months. I need something different, something interesting.  _ Anything _ .”

Bato frowned. “Sokka, repetition can be good. It lets you track your improvement, and really focus on your fundamental skills.”

Sokka tried to keep calm, but he felt his grip on his sword tightening, and his breathing quickening. “I don’t have time to work on fundamental skills. We’re probably  _ hours  _ away from finding the Avatar. He’s had  _ a hundred years t _ o master all four elements, and I can’t even bend. If I’m going to stand a chance, I need every trick in the book.” He drew himself up to his full height and stared at Bato, hoping he looked as powerful and intimidating as he felt. “So. What can you teach me?

Bato sighed. “I’ll teach you every advanced move I can think of. We’ll see how it goes.” Then, he grinned, a sudden mischief lighting up his eyes. “But first, I’m going to finish my pickled fish!”

Sokka groaned.

***

As usual, Azula was up with the sun. She crept silently through the house, past her sleeping brother in the hammock below hers, past their mother staring into space in the front room, and out onto the front of their terrace. Rather than walk down to the beach for training as she’d done the previous day, she decided to climb the rest of the way up to the top of the seaside cliffs. There was a wide clearing a few hundred feet to the west and around a bend from home, just above a pointy rock that made waves crash and send up white foam. It was Azula’s absolute favorite place to train. It was so far away from their village that no one ever disturbed her there. The sounds of the ocean drowned out everything else, making it the perfect environment for her to focus.

Except, apparently, this morning. She’d barely started her warm-up stretches when she saw Zuko come up behind her. Sighing, she untwisted her form and stood up. “To what do I owe the pleasure of this very lovely interruption?” She allowed sarcasm to ooze from her words. Zuko rolled his eyes in irritation, as had been her intention.

“Have you seen Aang? I haven’t seen him since I woke up.”

“You wake up at the same time as the sloths in the jungle, Zuko. Everyone on this island wakes up before you do.”

“Well, where would he have gone?’ Zuko looked around nervously, as though expecting to see Aang appear out of midair. He turned back to her, still anxious. “You don’t think Mom scared him, do you?”

Azula stared at the ground. She didn’t like to think about her mother. “Zuzu, please. Mother scares everyone.”

“How can you say that? What happened to her was awful!”

“I’m not saying it wasn’t! But for people who’ve never seen that before, the effect can be very...startling. That’s all I’m saying.”

Awkward silence filled the clifftop, broken only by the waves crashing against the rocks. 

At last, Azula raised her hands to begin her stretches again. “You should go. I practice best in private.”

Before either of them could move, however, there was a rustle in the breeze, and Aang was gliding onto the clifftop, landing right in front of Azula’s feet. She stared down at him, unamused and irritated at the second interruption in her attempt to train.

“Where have you been?” Zuko’s voice was slightly angry, as it often was whenever he got worried. “I’ve been looking for you all morning!”

Aang shrugged. “Sorry, I was looking for a bathroom.” Getting to his feet, Azula saw patches of multicolored pollen dotting his clothes. “There are some  _ weird  _ plants in that jungle.”

Zuko smiled. “Tell me about it.”

Taking her stance for the last time, Azula sighed. As intriguing as their new visitor was, she couldn’t afford to miss a day of training. She hadn’t missed one since her father had left, and she wasn’t going to start now. War didn’t give you breaks for special circumstances, so she wasn’t going to give them to herself, either. “I’m sure this is a very pleasant conversation for you both, but would you mind taking this somewhere else? I still have important work to get to.”

Aang cocked his head at her. “You’re practicing your firebending? But you just practiced yesterday. I saw you lighting the path.”

Azula gave him a wry smile. “War waits for no one, Aang.”

His eyes grew wide, as they had the night before at Lo and Li’s mention of extinction. “War? What war? What are you talking about?”

“You’re kidding,” Zuko said to Aang, shocked. “Right?”

Before either of them could see if he was indeed kidding, Aang let out an excited gasp and raced towards the trees. “Look how long this vine is! It’ll be great for swinging! Come on, Zuko!”

“He’s kidding,” Zuko said to Azula before hurrying after Aang into the trees. “Right?”

Azula could only shrug in response.

In the jungle, Aang leapt at the vines, trying to get a grip on them, but the material was too slippery for him to grab onto. Zuko pushed through the leaves, trying to catch up with him as he moved speedily through the trees. “Hey, Aang…”

Before he could go any further, there was a small shriek and a thump as Aang fell out of the trees. Unable to help himself, Zuko let out a small laugh. “Hey, Aang. I’ll teach you how I used to swing from those vines if you can help me with my firebending.” He spoke partially out of sarcasm, but partially, he realized as the words left his mouth, out of actual hope. It was sort of sad.

Aang leapt up and perched on a branch, cocking his head and staring down at the teenager. He still wore a grin on his face. Zuko was pretty sure he’d barely stopped smiling since they’d met, if he’d ever stopped at all. “Well, I guess you’ve got yourself I deal. But you might want to pick someone else to help you with that. I’m an airbender, not a firebender.”

Zuko sighed. “I wish. But it’s either an airbender or my sister, and she may be a prodigy, but she can’t teach a thing.”

Aang frowned. “That can’t be right. We’re in the Fire Nation islands. There must be some other firebenders around here somewhere.”

Zuko shook his head. “Just my dad and my uncle, and they left a few years ago. The other islands are all deserted. Everyone lives here now. My sister and I are the only firebenders left in any of the Fire Islands. All the rest live on the mainland.”

“Well why don’t you go there, then?”

Zuko sighed. “It’s not that simple. We’d need a boat, and the people of Ember Island...well, we don’t have a lot of boats anymore. My father and uncle took the last one when they left.”

Aang’s grin grew wider. “But you forget, I have a flying bison. I’d be happy to take you there. Azula, too. That way, you guys could learn with a real teacher.”

Zuko felt his arms wrapping around each other, something they often did whenever he felt indecisive. “I don’t know. We’ve never left the island before.”

Aang let himself fall off the branch so that he was hanging upside down, his face level with Zuko’s. “Well, you can think about it. For now, how about you teach me how not to fall off these vines!”

Zuko grinned cockily as Aang floated down to stand next to him. They had reached a place where the jungle reached the edge of a low cliff, and if they found the right vines, they would be able to swing over the water. As children, Zuko had often done this with Azula. But as they got older, and the war had become more and more damaging, they had stopped. The children of Ember Island were all at least a little wary of the water.

“The trick is to grab the leaves before you wrap your hands around the vine. The leaves are a little sticky, so they’ll stick to the vine, and make it less slippery.” Wrapping the leaves around the vine, Zuko placed it in Aang’s hands. “You first.”

With a whoop and a laugh, Aang launched himself off the cliff, soon disappearing around the corner. Zuko grabbed a second vine and followed him, relishing the feeling of the sea spray on his feet, the wind in his hair, and the sun on his face. For the first time in a while, he felt completely flee.

Laughing with rare joy, he came crashing to the sand next to Aang, who was already standing. He smiled, and his face almost hurt. It had been a long time since he had really smiled. “Wow. I haven’t done that since I was a kid.”

But Aang wasn’t smiling or laughing. Looking up, Zuko could see that there was an enormous shipwreck in front of them. He’d forgotten that the boat was on this beach in particular, but the design and the insignia on the torn sail were unmistakable.

“What is that?”

Zuko cocked his head at Aang. There was something so  _ strange  _ about him. “It’s a Water Navy ship. Something the people of these islands never want to see again.”

“Let’s go in!” Aang grabbed his hand, dragging him towards the enormous wreck. 

“Wait!” cried Zuko. “Nobody’s ever been in that thing before. There could be things in there waiting to kill us.”

Aang rolled his eyes playfully. “You sound like your sister. Come on, it’ll be fun!”

As soon as they entered the ship, though, it was clear that it would be anything  _ but _ fun. The first room they entered was one with a giant map of the Fire Nation on the wall. A circle had been drawn around the islands, and a slash had been drawn through many of them. Zuko walked over and traced the slash through Ember Island with his finger. “This must have been from their earlier attacks.” Zuko sighed. “My village still hasn’t forgotten those. Hell, we’re still scared that somebody will come out of the ocean any minute.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” said Aang, coming up next to him, “when I was a kid, I had friends all over the world. I had  _ lots  _ of friends in the Water Tribes. I don’t remember any war. Not like this.”

Zuko stared at Aang, a realization dawning on him. “Aang, how long were you in that mountain?”

Aang shrugged. “I dunno. A few days? A week?”

Zuko shook his head. “It sounds more like a hundred years.”

For the third time since they’d met, Aang’s eyes grew wide with shock and disbelief. “But that doesn’t make sense! I’m not a hundred years old.” He felt his face with his hands, as though making sure that it was still the right face. “Am I?”

Zuko paced back and forth, trying to make sense of it all. “It doesn’t make sense if you look at it like you look at science. But just think about it. The war is a century old. Unless you’re lying, and you’re not, you don’t know about it because...you were in the mountain the entire time.”

“A hundred years.” Aang wrapped his arms around himself and sank to the floor, as though realizing for the first time in ages how small he was. “I don’t believe it.” Tears started to spill over the brims of his eyes. 

Zuko stared at the floor awkwardly. He’d never been the best at comforting people. He wasn’t  _ as  _ horrible at it as his sister, but the deadly flowers in the jungle were better at comforting people than she was. He shrugged, not knowing what else to do. “I’m sorry. Look, maybe there’s something good that can come out of this?”

Aang smiled up at him. “I did get to meet you and Azula.”

Zuko laughed bitterly. “Yeah. I’m sure we’re  _ exactly  _ the kind of people you hoped to run into.”

Aang frowned slightly. “That’s not true. Sure, you aren’t all smiley. That doesn’t mean you’re not good people, and it doesn’t mean we can’t be friends.”

Zuko rolled his eyes. “Have you  _ met _ my sister?”

Aang shrugged. “She’s prickly, sure, but she cares about other people. She just doesn’t know how to show it.”

Zuko looked away. Part of him knew Aang was right, but the other part of him had an image of Azula melded into his brain; a determined perfectionist with no room for anyone else,  _ especially _ him. It was an image he couldn’t quite shake. “You don’t know her like I do. It’s complicated.”

Aang stood up. “Sometimes it’s easier to see the truth  _ before  _ everything gets too complicated.”

Zuko sighed, knowing he wasn’t going to win this argument, because Aang was clearly never going to stop talking. “Let’s get out of here. This ship is depressing.” Zuko decided not to mention the things he’d seen in one of the corners that looked suspiciously like bones.

Aang sighed. “But there’s so much more to see! Like this room!” As he spoke, he raced to the left. Zuko only saw the rope on the floor a second before Aang tripped over it. In a flash, water poured through the doorways, freezing rapidly into thick ice. Zuko couldn’t see how thick it was, but if the ship had been able to create ice, it could probably keep it cold, which meant he wouldn’t be able to melt it with his firebending.

Aang laughed nervously. “What was that about things in here waiting to kill us?”

Zuko slumped against the wall and rolled his eyes. “Great. This is  _ exactly  _ what I had planned for today.”

Aang threw him a glance, then looked up at the ceiling, a new determination on his face.

“Don’t start moping just yet. Hold on tight!”

Zuko didn’t even have time to yell “What?” before Aang had grabbed his hand and they were flying into the air through a hole in the ceiling, wobbling and zigzagging immensely due to the uneven distribution of weight. After nearly falling into the ocean a few times, Zuko managed to swing himself around so that he had ahold of both of Aang’s ankles. After that, their path straightened out, and they began heading for home.

***

Sokka leapt to the edge of the crow’s nest as he saw a speck flying up from the shipwreck on the island’s western beach. Bringing his telescope to his eye, he caught a glimpse of something that could only be described as remarkable.

A figure was flying on a glider, another figure hanging onto him. Sokka had never seen a glider, but he’d studied them enough to know what they looked like. Add the figure’s orange and yellow attire, and the result was unmistakable.

“The last airbender!” Sokka had to struggle to contain his excitement under the guise of being harsh and commanding. The work had only begun. “Bato! What’s the name of that island right there, just to the East?”

Bato climbed up into the crow’s nest to stand next to him. “Ember Island, according to the map.”

Sokka narrowed his eyes and peered through the telescope again. He could see the two figures land on the beach, just before disappearing into the jungle. “Then set a course for Ember Island.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick note for y'all: this fic will feature some ships pretty heavily later on, especially in Book 3. I don't want to put them in the tags because of spoilers, but I am aware that some ships are quite triggering for some people. So if you want to make sure that this fic doesn't feature a ship that's a trigger for you before you continue reading, come and DM me on Tumblr at @theatergirl06. Also feel free to DM me with any other questions you might have.  
> I talk as though I have "readers." I'm pretty sure no one is actually reading this.  
> Otherwise, if you've got something to say, drop it in the comments:)


End file.
